Threads From the Urban Fabric: Halloween Night in Dallas

Good news for Unfair Park readers this afternoon, as longtime friend of the blog, Justin Terveen, whose lens always seems to catch downtown Dallas in its best light, has sent along his favorite shot from Halloween night. With any luck, this'll be a regular feature for us each week, bringing a little extra color to the UP and some stories of the nightcrawling it took to get the shot. Justin's thoughts on this week's photo are after the jump. --Patrick Michels

It's moments like this that make shooting after-hours worthwhile...

Halloween night outside Mantus, I found these two sitting alongside Iron Cactus, waiting for the valet to return with their car.

I had been sleuthing around Pegasus Plaza for a good half hour with camera and tripod in hand, doing my best to blend and allow the natives time to become comfortable with my presence. It's a little after 1 a.m. when I spot these two and decide to make my move. I quickly set up shop and dial in the appropriate numbers. Shooting without a flash in relatively low light, I needed a fairly slow shutter speed to expose the scene properly, which unfortunately increases the opportunity for motion blur with my two subjects.

At a few seconds per picture, I'm roughly three exposures into shooting the couple when I'm finally made. On the fourth exposure, the female, wise to my game, signals with a smile and two-fingered salute. Peace. Right back atcha, Kiddo.

You never know what you'll walk away with after sessions like this... Sometimes it'll be nothing but a blurry mess, but every now and again, you'll arrive home and discover you've captured a unique moment in the lives of two complete strangers. Not too shabby. Peace.